In search of ponies: Family faced tough decision to stomach

February 10, 2012

At one time or another, most of us have played those hypothetical question games, you know, the ones where you imagine what historical figures you would invite to dinner if you could, or what three things you would want to have with you if deserted on an island.

Here’s one to toss around…

If you and your dog got lost in the woods without food and no hope of rescue, would you… could you, eat your dog?

Now before you go getting upset, I didn’t think of this all on my own.

In recent days, a Curry County, Ore., couple talked to the media after being plucked from a deep forest where they, their adult son and their pit bull Jesse spent six days lost and hungry.

Of course the rescue was news, but what really catapulted them into headlines was that they admitted they talked about eating their dog Jesse to survive, though the woman said she just didn’t think she would have been able to go through with it.

I would have to say for a litany of reasons, I’m with her and I couldn’t even consider the dog as a food possibility.

Of course love and compassion are at the top of the list, but also up there pretty high is the fact that I have seen some of the stuff dogs eat and that’s pretty hard to overlook, even starving.

As luck would have it, they were rescued before they were really faced with the moment, and in interviews, there was a lot of emotion as they expressed relief that it never came to that.

Now this just doesn’t seem like the type of scenario you want to armchair quarterback unless you’ve experienced it and know first hand how it feels to wrestle with uncertainty over whether you will live or die, so second guessing them seems pretty inappropriate.

Okay, with one exception — they could have, and probably should have, kept that little tidbit from the media.

But it goes without saying that their revelation gave whole new meaning to the motivation behind Jesse’s wag as she left the forest with rescuers.

And judging by photos that were taken of the family after being released from the hospital and reunited with Jesse and their four Chihuahuas (their fates were never deliberated because they stayed home during the unlucky trip), the dog had forgiven and forgotten.

Happy to see her folks, if she had any idea what they’d been thinking she sure didn’t let on.

Their ordeal does, however, make you wonder how far you would have to be pushed to look at your dog that way.

And you have to wonder how you come back from a thought like that once the door is opened – On some level it has to change things.

Like when you’re sitting in your recliner watching TV and hankering for a snack, do you look at the dog a little differently, like it’s an option?

At the very least, in the interest of atonement, you know you would toss the ball a few more times and not complain when the pooch sneaks up onto the couch.

Now Jesse, on the other hand, she’s a winner here for more reasons than just the obvious.

It deserves mentioning that a very hungry pit bull had three weak and injured people at her disposal for several days, and not one bite did she take — Good dog!